Imperial War Museum

This Week in London – Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition; 20th century conflicts; Jennie Baptiste at Somerset House; and Nigerian Modernism…

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Wim van den Heever’s winning entry, Ghost Town Visitor.

• An exhibition of entries into the annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition opens tomorrow at the National History Museum in South Kensington. The exhibition features 100 images selected from a record-breaking 60,636 entries and follows from this week’s announcement of the winners at a ceremony held at the museum earlier this week. The display includes the winning image – ‘Ghost Town Visitor’ which, captured by South African wildlife photographer Wim van den Heever depicts a brown hyena near the ruins of a long-abandoned diamond mining town in Kolmanskop, Namibia – as well as the winner of the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025 – 17-year-old Italian Andrea Dominizi’s After the Destruction which spotlights a longhorn beetle in the Lepini Mountains of central Italy, an area once logged for old beech trees, with a background of abandoned machinery. Other images on show include the winner of the Impact Award – Brazilian photographer, Fernando Faciole’s Orphan of the Road depicting an orphaned giant anteater pup following its caregiver after an evening feed at a rehabilitation centre – as well as category winners. The exhibition can be seen until 12th July next year. Admission charge applies. For more, head here.

• Three 20th century conflicts which broke out in Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus after World War II are the subject of a new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth. Emergency Exits: The Fight for Independence in Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus looks at how these three conflicts, known as “emergencies” to the British Government, shaped and continues to shape Britain, its former territories and the wider world today. The display includes more than 70 objects such as propaganda posters, flags and artworks as well as oral histories and personal belongings which belonged to those impacted by them. As well as telling the stories of the three conflicts, Emergency Exits also explores Operation Legacy, the British Government’s attempt to prevent publication of sensitive documents related to the conflicts which included evidence of human rights abuses. The free exhibition, which opens on Friday, runs until 26th March. For more, see iwm.org.uk/events/emergency-exits-the-fight-for-independence-in-malaya-kenya-and-cyprus.

• The first major solo exhibition focusing on the work of pioneering Black British photographer Jennie Baptiste opens in the Terrace Rooms at Somerset House on Friday. Jennie Baptiste: Rhythm & Roots, which is a highlights of Somerset House’s 25th birthday programme, charts how Baptiste used her lens to capture youth culture, music, fashion, and urban life within the Black British diaspora in London in the past few decades. The exhibition can be entered under a “pay what you can” model. Runs until 4th January. For more, see www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/jennie-baptiste-rhythm-and-roots.

Ben Enwonwu, ‘The Durbar of Eid-ul-Fitr, Kano’, Nigeria 1955. © Ben Enwonwu Foundation. Private Collection

• On Now: Nigerian Modernism. The Tate Modern is hosting the first UK exhibition to trace the development of modern art in Nigeria with more than 250 works by more than 50 artists on display. The exhibition, which spans the period from the 1940s to today, features works by globally celebrated artists of the 1940s, Ben Enwonwu and Ladi Kwali, as well as works by The Zaria Arts Society members Uche Okeke, Demas Nwoko, Yusuf Grillo, Bruce Onobrakpeya, and Jimo Akolo, Nsukka Art School members including Obiora Udechukwu, Tayo Adenaike and Ndidi Dike, and concludes with a spotlight on the work of Uzo Egonu. The display can be seen until 10th May. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/nigerian-modernism.

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This Week in London – Sexual violence in conflict; Indian religions at the British Museum; and, the circus comes to Hampton Court…

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• A first-of-its-kind exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth aims to shed light on sexual violence in conflicts. Unsilenced: Sexual Violence in Conflict features case studies which span the period from the World War I to today and examines how and why sexual violence is perpetrated, its impact on victims and survivors and the pursuit of justice and reconciliation. The exhibition features some 162 objects, including never-before-seen items, as well as testimonies and interviews with experts such as Christina Lamb, journalist and author of Our Bodies, Their Battlefield: What War Does to Women, and Sarah Sands, journalist and former chair of the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council. The display also highlights the ongoing work of four NGOs working in the field of sexual violence: Women for Women International, All Survivors Project, Free Yezidi Foundation and Waging Peace. The free display opens on Friday and runs until 2nd November. For more, see www.iwm.org.uk/events/unsilenced-sexual-violence-in-conflict.

Bimaran casket, about 1st century © The Trustees of the British Museum.
This gold reliquary might represent the earliest dateable image of the Buddha shown as a man, as coins found with it could date to the late 1st century AD. The Buddha stands with his right hand raised in the gesture of reassurance and is flanked by the gods Indra (right) and Brahma (left).

• The origins of three of the world’s major religions – Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism – and their practice today are explored through a new exhibition of sacred art at the British Museum. Ancient India: living traditions features more than 180 objects including sculptures, paintings, drawings, and manuscripts. Among the objects on show is a statue of the elephant-headed god Ganesh made of in Java from volcanic stone, dating from about AD 1000–1200, while among the stories told in the display are how depictions of Buddha have changed over time while those of Hindu goddess Lakshmi have remained relatively unchanged. Runs until 19th October in The Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery. For more, see www.britishmuseum.org.

• The circus and street performance are coming to Hampton Court Palace this weekend for a three day family-friendly festival featuring live music, acrobatics and physical theatre. Featuring performers from Cirque Bijou, the Big Bahooey will, as well as breathtaking stunts, slapstick comedy and interactive performances, feature hands-on workshops where you can learn skills such as juggling, wire walking or spinning plates. Entrance is included in palace admission. Runs from 24th to 26th May. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/whats-on/the-big-bahooey/.

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This Week in London – ‘Silk Roads’ at the British Museum; ‘War and the Mind’; and, the art of Sidney H Sime at the Heath Robinson Museum…

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Ivory chess pieces © ACDF of Uzbekistan, Samarkand State Museum Reserve. PICTURE: Andrey Arakelyan

• The popular concept of the ‘Silk Road’ as a simple history of trade between East and West is challenged in a new exhibition which opens at the British Museum today. Silk Roads, which spans the period from about 500 AD to 1,000 AD, explores the overlapping networks which linked communities ranging from the UK to Japan and Scandinavia to Madagascar through a display organised into five geographic zones. The exhibition features more than 300 objects which include the oldest group of chess pieces ever found (pictured), a six metre long wall painting from the ‘Hall of the Ambassadors’ in what is now Samarkand in Uzbekistan, a glass drinking horn from Italy dating from between 550 and 600 AD, and, a map of the world from al-Idrisi’s Nuzhat al-mushtaq fi ikh0raq al-afaq (Pleasure of He who Longs to Cross the Horizons) from a 1533 manuscript which drew on a 1154 original. Visitors will also encounter the stories of people whose stories intertwined with the Silk Roads including Willibald, a balsam smuggler from England, and a legendary Chinese princess her shared the secrets of silk farming with her new kingdom. The display in the Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery can be seen until 23rd February. Admission charge applies. For more, see britishmuseum.org/silkroads.

• The psychological dimensions of war are explored in a major new temporary exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth. War and the Mind features more 150 objects spanning the period from World War I through to the War in Afghanistan. Among them are a letter from Winnie the Pooh author AA Milne which speaks of how dedicated pacifists have changed their mind in the face of direct threat, amphetamine tablets issued to Allied soldiers to help them overcome the psychological effects of fatigue, a newly-acquired mitten belonging to the baby son of an Avro Lancaster bomber rear gunner who carried it for comfort while carrying out operations during the World War II, and a Protect and Survive booklet issued in the UK in 1980 as part of the government’s response to the fear of nuclear weapons during the Cold War. The exhibition, which opens on Friday, is free to visit. For more, see iwm.org.uk/events/war-and-the-mind.

• The artwork of painter, illustrator and caricaturist Sidney Sime is the subject of a new exhibition at the Heath Robinson Museum in Pinner. Sime, who was born in Manchester in 1865, trained at the Liverpool school of art before heading to London where he worked for magazines including Pick-Me-Up, drawing theatrical caricatures and other humorous drawings. He later struck up a friendship with Lord Dunsany and illustrated his first book, The Gods of Pegana, in a collaboration which continued until the 1930s. He also formed friendships with Lord Howard de Walden and composer Joseph Holbrooke, making set and costume designs for their theatrical and operatic productions. After World War I, Sime made a number of large oil paintings, many of which are shown in the display. The Art of Sidney H Sime, Master of Fantasy, which opens on Saturday, can be seen until 5th January. For more, see www.heathrobinsonmuseum.org/whats-on/sidney-sime-artist-and-philosopher/.

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This Week in London – The Crown Jewels (redisplayed); The Troubles at IWM; and, Tate Britain, rehung…

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Part of the new Jewel House display of the Crown Jewels at The Tower of London. PICTURE: ©Historic Royal Palaces

• A new display of the Crown Jewels opens in the Tower of London’s Jewel House tomorrow – the first major change to the display in more than a decade. Opening just weeks after the coronation regalia was used in the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey, the re-presentation of the jewels comes about thanks to a partnership between Historic Royal Palaces and royal jewellers Garrard and is the culmination of a four year project aimed at delving deeper into the history of the collection and coronations. The display, which features images from the recent coronation, starts with a celebration of the timelessness of monarchy featuring the State Crown frames worn by King George I, King George IV and Queen Victoria. It explains how historic jewels including the Black Prince’s Ruby have passed from crown to crown and explores the origins of the current jewels, starting with the destruction of the medieval coronation regalia in 1649. The story of gems including the Koh-i-Noor and Cullinan Diamond will also be explored while at the heart of the display is a room dedicated to the spectacle of the Coronation Procession. It ends with the Treasury containing more than 100 objects including the St Edward’s Crown of 1661, the Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross and the Sovereign’s Orb. As an added spectacle, for nine nights in November, the Tower will also host a touring light and sound show, Crown and Coronation, which, created in partnership with Luxmuralis Artist Collaboration, will feature imagery and footage of monarchs and coronations past, along with images of the regalia. Images will be projected on buildings of the Inner Ward including the White Tower. The light and sound show, which will run at the Tower from 17th to 25th November, will tour the UK in 2024. Entry is included in general admission. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/whats-on/the-crown-jewels/.

More of the new display in the Jewel House of the Crown Jewels at The Tower of London. PICTURE: ©Historic Royal Palaces

• The almost 30-year conflict in Northern Ireland known as The Troubles is the subject of a new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum. Northern Ireland: Living with the Troubles, which opens tomorrow, features familiar objects including rubber bullets, propaganda posters and a Good Friday Agreement booklet as well as rarer items such as a screen-printed handkerchief made by UVF paramilitaries in the Long Kesh internment camp. There will also be the chance to hear first-hand testimonies including from republican and loyalist paramilitaries as well as British soldiers, local police and ordinary civilians, and the opportunity to see archival photography depicting hunger strike riots, army checkpoints and bomb wreckage. Admission is free. Runs until 7th January. For more, see www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-london.

Sir John Everett Millais, Ophelia, 1851-2, Oil paint on canvas; Support: 762 × 1118 mm, frame: 1105 × 1458 × 145 mm
PICTURE: Tate (Seraphina Neville)

•Tate Britain has completed a complete rehang of its free collection displays – the first for 10 years. Visitors can see more than 800 works by 350 artists including iconic treasures such as John Everett Millais’ Ophelia (pictured above), William Hogarth’s The Painter and his Pug, David Hockney’s A Bigger Splash, Barbara Hepworth’s Pelago and Chris Ofili’s No Woman, No Cry. The collection also includes more than 100 works by JMW Turner, rooms devoted to such luminaries as William Blake, John Constable, the Pre-Raphaelites and Henry Moore, and a series of changing solo displays exploring other ground-breaking artists such as Annie Swynnerton, Richard Hamilton, Aubrey Williams and Zineb Sedira. Some 70 of the works in the collection – ranging from Tudor portraits to contemporary installations – which have been acquired in the last five years alone. For more, see www.tate.org.uk.

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This Week in London – Cameroon celebrated at Kew’s Orchid Festival; anti-racist activist and suffragettes among this year’s Blue Plaque honourees; and, images of Ukraine at IWM…

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Part of the orchids display at Kew Gardens in February, 2022. PICTURE: Adrian Scottow (licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)

• Kew Garden’s iconic Orchid Festival returns to the Princess of Wales Conservatory this Saturday. This year’s display takes its inspiration from the biodiversity of Cameroon – the first time it has celebrated the flora of an African nation. Highlights include giraffe sculptures and a troop of gorillas as well as arrangements featuring lions and hippos. The festival also includes ‘Orchids After Hours’ with music, food and drink. Runs until 5th March. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.kew.org.

• English Heritage Blue Plaques honouring anti-racist activist Claudia Jones, suffragette Emily Wilding Davison and Ada Salter, the first female mayor of a London borough, will be among those unveiled in London this year. English Heritage announced this year’s plaques will also honour 20th century violinist Yehudi Menuhin, Princess Sophia Duleep Singh – a god-daughter of Queen Victoria and also a suffragette, and Marie Spartali Stillman, a Pre-Raphaelite model who appeared in paintings by the likes of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones. For more on the Blue Plaques scheme, see www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/.

• Images of Ukraine during its conflict with Russia go on show at the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth on Friday. Ukraine: Photographs from the Frontline features images taken by renowned photojournalist Anastasia Taylor-Lind which were taken during her time in Ukraine between 2014 and June, 2022. The exhibition is presented in three sections – the first focusing on the 2014 protests in Kyiv, the second on the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine and the third on Russia’s invasion in February last year. Runs until 8th May. Admission is free. For more, see www.iwm.org.uk/events/iwm-london-ukraine-exhibition.

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This Week in London – Online Book of Condolence; IWM’s photographic tribute; and, ZSL London Zoo reopens…

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PICTURE: duncan c
(licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0/image cropped)

• With books of condolence not available for the public to sign due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Royal Family has created a national Online Book of Condolence for those who wish to leave a message following the death of Prince Philip. The family have also asked that members of the public consider making a donation to a charity instead of leaving floral tributes in memory of the Duke. The ceremonial funeral, which is not open to the public, will be held on Saturday at 3pm in St George’s Chapel, Windsor. A national one minute of silence will observed at 3pm, as the funeral, commences.

• Meanwhile, among tributes to remember Prince Philip is an online gallery of images at the Imperial War Museum’s website. Access the gallery from the IWM’s collections here.

• ZSL London Zoo reopened to the public this week, three months after it closed its doors for the third national coronavirus-related lockdown. Visitor numbers are limited to ensure social distancing and visitors must pre-book. A one-way system is in place, with three prescribed routes ensuring guests remain socially-distanced while exploring. Indoor exhibits, including the Reptile House and Rainforest Life, will remain closed for now. For more, see www.zsl.org.

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Treasures of London – Berlin Wall segment…

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Located in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park in Kennington outside the Imperial War Museum, this segment of the Berlin Wall was taken from near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

The concrete and steel wall is covered with graffiti, attributed to an artist ‘Indiano’, including an image of a giant mouth containing the words ‘Change your life’ (which may have come from a German poem).

The wall, which separated East and West Germany, was erected by East German forces in 1961 and finally fell in November, 1989. More than 80 people died attempting to cross the wall from East Germany before it was torn down.

This segment was acquired by the Imperial War Museum in January, 1991. It’s not the only part of the wall in London, among others is a fragment in Grosvenor Square.

PICTURE: K.ristof (licensed under CC BY SA 3.0)

 

A Moment in London’s History – The first Anderson shelter is built…

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A small air raid shelter designed for people to erect on their properties in preparation for the expected bombing campaigns of World War II, the first of London’s ‘Anderson’ shelters were rolled out 80 years ago in a backyard garden of a house in Islington on 25th February, 1939.

The shelter’s name comes from Sir John Anderson, Lord Privy Seal and the man tasked with the job of overseeing air-raid preparations across the country. As part of that job, he commissioned engineers to come up with an easy-to-construct, affordable shelter that could be used by the population at large.

The resulting arched-roofed structures, designed to be flexible and absorb the impact when bombs hit, were made from six curved sheets of corrugated steel or iron and, at six feet tall, 6.5 feet long and 4.5 feet wide, could house a family of six. They were designed to be buried under four feet of earth in backyards and the roof covered with a minimum of 15 inches of soil.

The shelters were given out for free to lower income families but those with the means had to buy them for £7. Some chose to incorporate them into their gardens and grew vegetables and plants on top and some decorated them – there were even competitions held for the best looking.

By the time bombs started hitting London in the Blitz, more than 1.5 million of the shelters had been built (and a further 2.1 million were erected as the war raged).

It was expected that families would use them every night but the shelters were found to be cold and damp and often flooded which meant many people only used them when air raid sirens sounded (and some not even then – one 1940 survey apparently found only 27 per cent of Londoners used them).

After the war, most were scrapped for the metal but some of the Anderson shelters were repurposed as garden sheds. A small number of them survive across London.

PICTURE: An intact Anderson shelter sits amid devastation in Poplar caused after a land mine fell a few yards away in in 1941. The three people inside were not hurt. Via Imperial War Museum (© IWM (D 5949))

This Week in London – It’s Open House weekend; World War I remembered; and, science and the Romanovs…

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• More than 800 buildings of all kinds open their doors to the public this weekend as part of the 26th Open House London. Highlights of this year’s event include new entries such as the US Embassy, the Royal Opera House and Bloomberg’s new HQ as well as returning favourites such as the BT Tower, The Shard and 10 Downing Street. There’s also a programme of activities “lifting the lid” of Old Oak and Park Royal – the heart of ‘making’ in London, explorations of new London districts such as Wembley Park, Hackney Wick and Barking Riverside, the chance to view RIBA Award-winners including the Belvue School Woodland Classrooms, Hackney Town Hall and No.1 New Oxford Street, the new COS HQ, and 100 “must-see” homes. The full programme of events – which also highlights the contribution women have made in shaping today’s London – can be found at www.openhouselondon.org.uk and there’s a free app to download. PICTURED: Top – Bloomberg European Headquarters (Nigel Young/Foster + Partners) and right – Valetta House (French & Tye) are among properties open to the public.

• A multi-screen art installation remembering the millions of African men and women who served in World War I and an immersive sound installation featuring personal reflections on the Armistice are among four exhibitions opening at the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth on Friday. Projected onto three screens, African Soldier combines a powerful sound score, historic footage and newly created film which has been shot by artist John Akomfrah in various locations around the world to speak to the African experience of World War I while the sound installation, I Was There: Room of Voices, features 32 people who fought and lived through war sharing their personal stories of the Armistice. The exhibitions also include Renewal: Life after the First World War in Photographs – a display of more than 100 black and white photographs showing how lives, landscapes and national identities recovered, evolved and flourished after the war – and Moments of Silence, an immersive installation commissioned from 59 Productions. The exhibitions, which can be seen until 31st March, are part of the IWM’s Making A New World, “a season of art, photography, film, live music, dance and conversations exploring how the First World War has shaped today’s society”. For more see www.iwm.org.uk.

• The role of science in the lives – and deaths – of the last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family is explored in a new exhibition opening at the Science Museum in South Kensington which marks 100 years since the end of the Romanov dynasty. The Last Tsar: Blood and Revolution explores the influence of medicine on the Imperial Family –  everything from how they treated conditions such as the heir Alexei’s haemophilia through to the Tsarina’s fertility and the Red Cross medical training the Tsar’s daughters received – as well as recent advances in medicine and forensic science which have been deployed to transform the investigation into their disappearance. Objects on show include personal diaries, an Imperial Fabergé Egg presented to the Tsar by his wife a year before the fall of the Imperial house and photograph albums created by an  English tutor to the Imperial Family. There’s also evidence from the scene of the family’s execution including the dentures of the Imperial physician, a diamond earring belonging to the Tsarina and an icon peppered with bullet holes. Opening on Friday, the exhibition runs until 24th March. For more, see www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/thelasttsar.

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This Week in London – Art since 9/11; Tove Jansson, Moomin creator; and, celebrating black and white…

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• The first major exhibition in the UK to consider artists’ responses to war and conflict since 9/11 opens at the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth today. Age of Terror: Art since 9/11 features 50 works of art including film, sculpture, painting, installations, photography and prints from more than 40 British and international contemporary artists including Ai Weiwei, Grayson Perry, Gerhard Richter, Jenny Holzer, Mona Hatoum, Alfredo Jaar, Coco Fusco and Jake & Dinos Chapman. The exhibition is presented around four key themes – artists’ direct or immediate responses to 9/11, issues of state surveillance and security, our relationship with firearms, bombs and drones, and the destruction caused by conflict on landscape, architecture and people. Highlights include Iván Navarro’s The Twin Towers (2011), Ai Weiwei’s Surveillance Camera with Marble Stand (2015), and James Bridle’s site-specific installation, Drone Shadow Predator, as well as Grayson Perry’s Dolls at Dungeness September 11th 2001 (2001) and, Jamal Penjweny’s photographic series, Saddam is Here (2009-2010). Runs until 28th May. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.iwm.org.uk/ageofterror.

• The first UK retrospective of the work of famed 20th century Finnish illustrator Tove Jansson opened at the Dulwich Picture Gallery yesterday. Tove Jansson (1914-2001) celebrates the work of the artist known as the creator of the Moomin characters and books but also includes a wider looks at her graphic illustration work and paintings. It features 150 works including self-portraits, landscapes and still-lives never seen before in the UK and a series of Moomin drawings only discovered at the British Cartoon Archive this year. Organised in collaboration with the Ateneum Art Museum, the exhibition can be seen until 28th January. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk. PICTURE: Tove Jansson, Sleeping in the Roots, 1930s, Moomin Museum, Tampere Art Museum Moominvalley Collection (Finnish National Gallery/Yehia Eweis).

• Featuring 50 painted objects created over 700 years, a new exhibition at The National Gallery takes a “radical” look at what happens when artists cast aside the colour spectrum and focus on the power of black and white. Monochrome: Painting in Black and White features paintings and drawings by Old Masters like Jan van Eyck, Albrecht Durer and Rembrandt van Reign alongside works by contemporary artists such as Gerhard Richter, Chuck Close and Bridget Riley. Exhibition opens on Monday and runs until 18th February. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk.

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This Week in London – Pink Floyd at V&A; examining the Syrian conflict; and, Giacometti’s works on show…

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• Marking 50 years since the release of their first album, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, a new exhibition opens at the V&A this Saturday celebrating the work of pioneering band Pink Floyd. The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains is an “immersive, multi-sensory and theatrical journey” through the “extraordinary world” of the band, encompassing their music as well as their iconic visuals and staging, which included ground-breaking use of special effects, sonic experimentation and imagery. The exhibition features more than 350 objects with highlights including set and construction pieces from some of the band’s most famous album covers and stage performances including the more than six metre tall metallic heads from 1994’s The Division Bell and a life-sized model of a British soldier seen in the artwork of 1988’s The Final Cut as well as instruments such as David Gilmour’s famous ‘Black Strat’, Roger Waters’ handwritten lyrics songs Wish You Were Here and Have a Cigar and psychedelic prints and posters. There is also never-seen-before classic Pink Floyd concert footage and a custom-designed laser light show as well as an accompanying sound experience – featuring past and present band members – provided by Sennheiser. Runs until 1st October. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.pinkfloydexhibition.com. PICTURE: © Pink Floyd Music Ltd photo by Storm Thorgerson/Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell 1971 Belsize Park

• The ongoing conflict in Syria is the subject of a new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum which explores its origins, escalations and impacts. Syria: Story of a Conflict features a collection of objects – some of which have recently come from Syria – which point to the tragic and complex nature of the conflict as well as a film installation and a series of personal stories from Syrians affected by the fighting. It runs alongside a collection of more than 60 photographs by award-winning Russian documentary photographer Sergey Ponomarev taken around the conflict, a number of which are being displayed for the first time. Both the photography display – Sergey Ponomarev: A Lens on Syria – and the exhibition are part of the IWM’s Syria: A Conflict Explored ‘season’, with Syria the first contemporary conflict to be explored in the Imperial War Museum’s ‘Conflict Now’ ‘strand’, launched to coincide with the museum’s centenary. Both the exhibition and photographic display can be seen until 3rd September. Admission to both, which are accompanied by a programme of events including debates and tours, is free. For more, see www.iwm.org.uk/exhibitions/iwm-london/syria-a-conflict-explored

• The work of sculptor, painter and draughtsman, Alberto Giacometti, is the subject of a new exhibition at the Tate Modern – the UK’s first major retrospective of his work for 20 years. More than 250 works are featured in the exhibition, which draws on the collection of Paris’ Fondation Alberto et Annette Giacometti, including rarely seen and never before exhibited plasters and drawings as well as works from across the span of Giacometti’s 50 year career – from Head of a Woman [Flora Mayo] (1926) to Walking Man 1 (1960). While Giacometti is best known for his bronze figures, Tate Modern is, in this exhibition, repositioning him as an artist with a far wider interest in materials and textures, especially plaster and clay, Runs until 10th September. Admission charge applies. See www.tate.org.uk.

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This Week in London – Anti-war movement history at IWM; National Gallery’s new space; and a VR spaceflight at the Science Museum…

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We pause briefly at the start of this week’s coverage to remember those killed and injured in yesterday’s terror attack outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster as well as pay tribute to the emergency services and passersby who responded to aid the wounded.

• The UK’s first major exhibition dedicated to the evolution of the anti-war movement has opened at the Imperial War Museum this week. People Power: Fighting for Peace features such rare items as a hand-written poem by Siegfried Sassoon, artist Gerald Holtom’s original sketches for the iconic ‘peace symbol’, artworks depicting the destructive nature of World War I like Paul Nash’s Wire (1918) and CRW Nevinson’s Paths of Glory (1917), a handwritten letter by Winnie the Pooh author AA Milne outlining his struggle to reconcile pacifism with the rise of Hitler, and Peter Kennard and Cat Philip’s iconic photomontage Photo Op (2007) which depicts former PM Tony Blair taking a selfie against the backdrop of an explosion. More than 300 items are displayed in the exhibition including paintings, literature, posters, banners, badges and music, dating from World War I to the present. Admission charge applies. Runs until 28th August. For more, see www.iwm.org.uk/exhibitions/iwm-london/fighting-for-peace. PICTURE: David Gentleman, Stop the War – No More Lies/© David Gentleman, reproduced with the kind permission of the Stop the War Coalition.

• The first new gallery space to open at The National Gallery in 26 years was launched this week. Gallery B, designed by architects Purcell, features some 200 square metres of display space and features nine works by Rubens and 11 by Rembrandt. There are also drawings by contemporary painter Frank Auerbach, inspired by Rembrandt and Rubens works, in the Gallery B lobby and espresso bar. The launch also marks the daily opening of Gallery A which has hitherto only be opened on selected days. Entry is free. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk.

• A virtual reality experience which enables people to experience what it feels like to sit inside the Russian Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft used by Tim Peake – the UK’s first European Space Agency astronaut – in a mission to and from the International Space Station opens at the Science Museum tomorrow. The South Kensington museum acquired the spacecraft in December last year and, from Friday, visitors will be able to take part in Space Descent VR with Tim Peake – a 360 degree state-of-the-art virtual reality experience which allows visitors to experience what it is like in the Soyuz’s 1.5 tonne descent module during its dangerous 400 kilometre high speed journey back to Earth during which it has to slow from a speed in orbit of 25,000 kph. The experience was created by Alchemy VR and made possible with the support of Samsung, Tim Peake and the ESA. For more information and tickets, see sciencemuseum.org.uk/VR.

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This Week in London – Kew Gardens celebrates its herbaceous borders; the global ‘War on Terror’ at the IWM; Bobby Moore honoured; exposing the camera; and, 60 years of fanzines…

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• The first of three weekends celebrating the creation of the world’s longest double herbaceous borders – known as the Great Broad Walk Borders – will be held at Kew Gardens this weekend. Made up of 30,000 plants, the borders run along 320 metres of the Broad Walk which was originally landscaped in the 1840s by William Nesfield to provide a more dramatic approach to the newly constructed Palm House (completed in 1848). The spirit of the formal colourful beds he created along either side of the walk have been recreated using a range of plants. To celebrate, Kew are holding three themed weekends, the first of which, carrying a history and gardens theme, is this Saturday and Sunday. As well as talks and drop-in events, there will be a range of family-related activities as well as craft workshops, tours, and shopping. Further weekends will be held on 13th and 14th August (around the theme of the excellence of horticulture at Kew) and the bank holiday weekend of 27th to 29th August (around the theme of a celebration of beauty). For more, head to www.kew.org.

• A new exhibition centring on the experiences of UK citizens and residents suspected but never convicted of terrorism-related activities and the role of the British Government in the ‘Global War on Terror’ opens at the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth today. Edmund Clark: War on Terror, Clark’s first major solo show in the UK, looks at the measures taken by states to protect their citizens from the threat of international terrorism and their far-reaching effects, exploring issues like security, secrecy, legality and ethics. Among the photographs, films and documents on display are highlights from five series of Clark’s work including Negative Publicity: Artefacts of Extraordinary Rendition, created in collaboration with counter-terrorism investigator Crofton Black, and other works including the film Section 4 Part 20: One Day on a Saturday, photographs and images from the series Guantanamo: If the Light Goes Out and Letter to Omar as well as the first major display of the work Control Order House. Runs until 28th August, 2017. Admission is free. For more, see www.iwm.org.uk/exhibitions/iwm-london/edmund-clark-war-of-terror.

• The only English football captain to win a World Cup, Bobby Moore, has become the first footballer to be honoured with an English Heritage blue plaque. The plaque was unveiled at the footballer’s childhood home at 43 Waverley Gardens in Barking, East London, this week. Moore is best remembered for leading England to a 4-2 win over West Germany in the 1966 World Cup. For more, see www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/.

• The camera is the subject of a new photography display which opened at the V&A in South Kensington last weekend. The Camera Exposed features more than 120 photographs, including works by more than 57 known artists as well as unknown amateurs. Each work features at least one camera and include formal portraits, casual snapshots, still-lifes, and cityscapes. Among the images are pictures of photographers such as Bill Brandt, Paul Strand and Weegee with their cameras along with self-portraits by Eve Arnold, Lee Friedlander and André Kertész in which the camera appears as a reflection or shadow. The display includes several new acquisitions including a Christmas card by portrait photographer Philippe Halsman, an image of photojournalist W Eugene Smith testing cameras and a self-portrait, taken by French photojournalist Pierre Jahan using a mirror. Runs in gallery 38A until 5th March. Free admission. For more, see www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/the-camera-exposed.

• Sixty years of fanzines – from the development of zine-making back in the 1940s through to today’s – go on show at the Barbican Music Library in the City on Monday. FANZINES: a Cut-and-Paste Revolution features zines including VAGUE, Sniffing’ Glue, Bam Balam, Fatal Visions, Hysteria and Third Foundation among others. The exhibition, which runs until 31st August, is being held in conjunction with this year’s PUNK LONDON festival. For more, see www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/libraries-and-archives/our-libraries/Pages/Barbican-Music-Library.aspx.

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This Week in London – Commemorating the Battle of the Somme; Transported by Design; and, Winifred Knights at Dulwich…

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Battle-of-the-Somme• The Imperial War Museum in Lambeth is holding a free late night opening tonight featuring live music, film screenings, immersive theatre and poetry to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Highlights of Night Before the Somme, which runs from 8pm to midnight tonight, include slam poet Kat Francois’ critically acclaimed play Raising Lazarus, poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan’s show Magic Lantern Tales, and extracts from the immersive production Dr Blighty – which tells the story of the million Indians who travelled to fight in the war. Visitors will also have the chance to watch the film, The Battle of the Somme (filmed and screened in 1916, it was the first feature-length documentary about war), listen in to a series of Q&A’s with experts on the battle, and preview the major exhibition, Real to Reel: A Century of War Movies. Real to Reel, which officially opens on Friday, explores how film-makers have found inspiration in compelling personal stories and the real events of wars from the past century. As well as audio-visual installations, the display features film clips, costumes, props, scripts, sketches and designs from films such as The Dam Busters, Where Eagles Dare, Apocalypse Now, Battle of Britain, Das Boot, Casablanca, Jarhead, Atonement and War Horse along with original archival material and artefacts from the IWM collections. The exhibition, which is divided into five sections, runs until 8th January. Admission charges apply. See www.iwm.org.uk for more. PICTURE: © IWM (Q 70164. Staged scene from The Battle of the Somme film, 1916 British troops go ‘over the top’ into ‘No Man’s Land’. This scene was staged for the camera at a training school behind the lines.

• Don’t forget tonight’s vigil at Westminster Abbey to mark the 100th anniversary (as mentioned in last week’s entry here).

• Still on the centenary of the Battle of the Somme and a new exhibition opened at the Science Museum in South Kensington this week focusing on the innovations in medical practice and technologies developed as a result of the new kind of industrialised warfare seen in the battle. Wounded: Conflict, Casualties and Care has at its centre a collection of historic objects from the museum’s World War I medical collections including stretchers adapted for use in narrow trenches and made-to-measure artificial arms fitted to the wounded in British hospitals as well as lucky charms and personal protective items carried by frontline soldiers. There are also artworks from the period including Henry Tonk’s famous pastel drawings of facial injuries and a 1914 painting by John Lavery that depicts the arrival of the first British wounded soldiers at the London hospital. Admission is free and the exhibition can be seen until early 2018. For more, see www.sciencemuseum.org.uk.

• Regent Street will be transformed on Sunday, 3rd July, with the Transported by Design Festival featuring transport designs which have shaped and will shape London. The festival, which will stretch from Piccadilly Circus to Oxford Circus Tube stations, will see the street divided into three zones – past, present and future. Among the objects on show in ‘past’ section will be a horse-drawn bus and other heritage buses, a 1927 train carriage and an exhibition of classic advertising posters and signage while the ‘present’ section will feature ‘Cycle Spin Fun’ by Santander Cycles, Moquette Land – a showcase of fabric used across the transport network, and, a ‘design a bus’ competition, and the ‘future’ section will feature a range of technologies, including virtual reality headsets, exploring what transport could look like in 2040. The free festival, part of the ‘Summer Streets’ program which sees Regent Street closed to traffic on Sundays over summer, runs from noon to 6pm. For more, see www.tfl.gov.uk/campaign/transported-by-design/event-calendar?intcmp=40582.

• The work of artist Winifred Knights, the first British woman to win the Prix de Rome scholarship, is the subject of a recently-opened exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. The display, the first major retrospective of the work of Knights (1899-1947), brings together more than 70 preparatory studies and her most ambitious works including The Deluge (1920), The Potato Harvest (1918) and Leaving the Munitions Works (1919). Winifred Knights (1899-1947) runs until 18th September. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.

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This Week in London – John Dee’s library; Botticelli and Dante; and, women in war at the IWM…

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• John Dee (1527-1609), the enigmatic Elizabethan “mathematician, magician, astronomer, astrologer, imperialist, alchemist and spy”, is the subject of an exhibition currently running at the Royal College of Physicians Museum in Regent’s Park. Scholar, courtier, magician: the lost library of John Dee explores his life through remnants of his personal library and features mathematical, astronomical and alchemical texts, many of which he elaborately annotated and even illustrated. The texts are drawn from the collection of the college library which has more than 100 of the doctor’s volumes and which forms the largest collection of Dee’s books in the world. The books represent only a fraction of the more than 3,000 books and 1,000 manuscripts he claimed to own before his library was, so Dee claimed, sold off illicitly by his brother-in-law Nicholas Fromond after he gave them into his care when he travelled to Europe in the 1580s. Many of them apparently fell into the hands of Nicholas Saunder, possibly a former student of Dee’s and later passed into the hands of book collector Henry Pierrepont, the Marquis of Dorchester, whose family gave his entire library to the Royal College of Physicians after his death in 1680. The free exhibition runs until 29th July. For more, see www.rcplondon.ac.uk.

Image_2_Paradiso-II• Botticelli’s drawings for Dante’s epic poem, the Divine Comedy, are at the heart of a new exhibition which opened earlier this month at the Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House. Botticelli and Treasures from the Hamilton Collection, which is being run in collaboration with the Kuperferstichkabinett (Prints and Drawings Museum) in Berlin, features treasures which were sold to Berlin by the 12th Duke of Hamilton in 1882 despite efforts by Queen Victoria to prevent the transaction. They include a selection of 30 of Botticelli’s drawings – which date from about 1480-95 – as well as illuminated manuscripts including the Hamilton Bible. Said to be one of the most important illuminated manuscripts in the world, it is being returned to the UK for the first time since 1882. The exhibition, which coincides with Botticelli Reimagined opening at the V&A next month, runs until 15th May. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.courtauld.ac.uk. PICTURE: Sandro Botticelli – Beatrice explains to Dante the order of the cosmos (Divine Comedy, Paradiso II), around 1481-1495/© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett/Philipp Allard.

• The stories of women in times of war form the heart of a new display on show at the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth. Eleven Women Facing War features photographs and films taken by award-winning British photographer and film-maker Nick Danziger. He first photographed the 11 women, who all lived in conflict zones, in 2001 for an International Committee of the Red Cross study documenting the needs of women facing war before setting out 10 years later to find each of the women and see what had become of their lives. The exhibition features 33 photographs and 11 short films from conflict zones including Bosnia, Kosovo, Israel, Gaza, Hebron (West Bank), Sierra Leone, Colombia and Argentina. Among the stories told are those of Mah Bibi, a 10-year-old orphan who was begging for food for herself and two brothers when first photographed in Afghanistan and who, 10 years later, had vanished and is believed to have died in 2006. Another is that of Mariatu, who was struggling to rebuild her life in Sierra Leone after her hands had been forcibly amputated by guerrilla soldiers at the age of 13 when she was photographed in 2001 and who 10 years later had moved to Canada. The exhibition runs until 24th April. Admission is free. For more, see www.iwm.org.uk.

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This Week in London – Christmas at Kensington and the Geffrye; and Ebola and ISIS at the IWM…

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• Christmas is looming and that means Christmas themed events happening all over London. Here’s a couple worth considering:

• Kensington Palace: Head back into the Victorian era where so many of the Christmas traditions we know and love find their origins. The palace and gardens have been decorated with period-inspired decorations while inside decorations include the beautifully decorated tables where Queen Victoria and Prince Albert showcased their Christmas gifts. There’s talks on the origins of Christmas foods such as plum pudding, music and carolling, and the cafe is serving up seasonal food and drink while on Saturday, a special brunch time lecture will look behind the curtains into the world of Victorian pantomime and performance. Admission charges apply – check the website for dates. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/kensington-palace/.

• The Geffrye Museum: This Shoreditch institution is once again celebrating Christmas traditions of the past in its annual display showcasing the past 400 years of Christmas traditions. Christmas Past has taken place at the museum for the past 25 years and is based on ongoing, original research. It provides insights into everything from traditional Christmas feasts to kissing under the mistletoe, playing parlour games, hanging up stockings, sending cards, decorating the tree and throwing cocktail parties. A series of related events, including a concert by candlelight, are being held over the Christmas season. The display, which has free entry, closes on 3rd January. For more, see www.geffrye-museum.org.uk.

 

• Ebola and the fight against ISIS are the subject of a new exhibition which opened at the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth last month. Fighting Extremes: From Ebola to ISIS looks at the experiences of British personnel serving on recent operations including the response to the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone and the fight against ISIS in the Middle East. The display features behind the scenes interviews such as an in-depth talk with Corporal Anna Cross, a British Army nurse who contracted Ebola, photographs, and recently acquired objects such as the Wellington boots worn by healthcare worker Will Pooley, the first Briton to contract Ebola who was evacuated from Sierra Leone by the RAF, a headset used by an RAF drone pilot, and a shooting target depicting a silhouette of an ISIS suicide bomber used by the British Army to train Peshmerga troops. For more, see www.iwm.org.uk.

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This Week in London – World’s oldest clock and watch collection moves to the Science Museum; commemorating Agincourt; and, black experiences in war at the Imperial War Museum…

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Star-clock• The world’s oldest clock and watch collection can be seen at its new home at the Science Museum in South Kensington from tomorrow. The Clockmaker’s Museum, which was established in 1814 and has previously been housed at City of London Corporation’s Guildhall, has taken up permanent residence in the Science Museum. Assembled by the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers – founded in 1631 – the collection features some 600 watches, 80 clocks and 25 marine timekeepers spanning the period from the 15th century to today. Highlights among the collection include: a year duration long case clock made by Daniel Quare of London (c. 1647-1724); a star-form watch (pictured) by David Ramsay, first master of the Clockmaker’s Company; the 5th marine timekeeper completed in 1770 by John Harrison (winner in 1714 of the Longitude Prize); a timekeeper used by Captain George Vancouver on his 18th century voyage around the Canadian island that bears his name; a watch used to carry accurate time from Greenwich Observatory around London; and, a wristwatch worn by Sir Edmund Hillary when he summited Mount Everest in 1953. The collection complements that already held by the Science Museum in its ‘Measuring Time’ gallery – this includes the third oldest clock in the world (dating from 1392, it’s on loan from Well’s Cathedral) and a 1,500-year-old Byzantine sundial-calendar, the second oldest geared mechanism known to have survived. Entry is free. For more, see www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/clocks. PICTURE: The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers.

• Westminster Abbey is kicking off its commemorations of the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt by opening Henry V’s chantry chapel in Westminster Abbey to a selected few on Saturday night, the eve of the battle’s anniversary. The chapel, which is above the king’s tomb at the east end of the abbey, will be seen by the winners of a public ballot which opened in September. It has never before been officially opened for public tours. The chapel is one of the smallest of the abbey’s chapels. It is occasionally used for services but, measuring just seven by three metres, is not usually open to the public because of size and access issues. Meanwhile the abbey will hold a special service of commemoration on 29th October in partnership with charity Agincourt600 and on 28th October, will host a one day conference for Henry V enthusiasts entitled Beyond Agincourt: The Funerary Achievements of Henry V. For more, see www.westminster-abbey.org/events/agincourt.

• The role the black community played at home and on the fighting front during conflicts from World War I onward is the focus of a programme of free events and tours as Imperial War Museums marks Black History Month during October. IWM London in Lambeth will host a special screening of two documentary films – Burma Boy and Eddie Noble: A Charmed Life – telling the stories of African and Caribbean mean who served in World War II on 25th October. IWM London will also feature a series of interactive talks from historians revealing what it was like for black servicemen during both world wars from this Saturday until Sunday, 1st November. For more, see www.iwm.org.uk.

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This Week in London – MC Escher at Dulwich; West Africa’s literary history at the British Library; and, two new war-related exhibitions…

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Escher_Hand-with-a-Reflecting-Sphere-1935• The first major UK retrospective of the work of 20th century Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis (MC) Escher opened at Dulwich Picture Gallery in London’s south yesterday following its run at the Scottish National Gallery of Art. The Amazing World of MC Escher showcases more than 100 works – including original drawings, prints, lithographs, and woodcuts – as well as previously unseen archive material from the collection of Gemeentenmuseum Den Haag in The Netherlands. Arranged chronologically, highlights include 1934’s Still Life with Mirror – perhaps the first time the artist used surreal illusion, well-known 1948 lithograph Drawing Hands, the almost four metre long 1939-40 woodcut Metamorphosis II, the 1943 lithograph Reptiles and two of his most celebrated works, Ascending and Descending (1960) and Waterfall (1961). Runs until 17th January and is accompanied by a series of special events. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk. PICTURE: M.C. Escher, Hand with Reflecting Sphere (Self-Portait in Spherical Mirror), January 1935, Collection Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, The Netherlands/All M.C. Escher works © 2015 The M.C. Escher Company-The Netherlands. All rights reserved. http://www.mcescher.com.

• West Africa’s literary history comes under examination in a new exhibition opening at the British Library at St Pancras on Friday. West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song features more than 200 manuscripts, books, sound and film recordings, artworks, masks and textiles taken from the library’s African collections and elsewhere. It explores how key figures – from Nobel Prize winning Nigerian author Professor Wole Soyinka through to human rights activist Fela Kuti, the creator of Afrobeat, and a generation of enslaved 18th century West Africans who agitated for the abolition of the slave trade – used words to both build society and fight injustice. Key items on show include a 1989 letter Kuti wrote to the president of Nigeria, General Ibrahim Babangida, in which he agitated for political change, a pair of atumpan ‘talking drums’ similar to those still used in Ghana, a carnival costume newly designed by Brixton-based artist Ray Mahabir, and letters, texts and life accounts written by the most famous 18th century British writer of African heritage, Olaudah Equiano, enslaved and freed scholar Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, and Phillis Wheatley, who, enslaved as a child, went on to write Romantic poetry. The exhibition, which will be accompanied by a major series of talks, events and performances, runs until 16th February. Admission charge applies. For more, see  www.bl.uk/west-africa-exhibition.

• Two new war related exhibitions opened in London this week. Opened on Monday at the City of London’s Guildhall Library, Talbot House – An Oasis in a World Gone Crazy, recounts the story of army chaplains Philip ‘Tubby’ Clayton and Neville Talbot and their creation of an Everyman’s Club – where countless soldiers spent time away from the fighting – in a house in the Belgian town of Poperinge, a few miles from the frontline at Ypres. The exhibition, created to celebrate the centenary of the house’s creation in 1915, features items from Talbot House, the memoirs of ‘Tubby’ and part of the hut where he wrote them after fleeing the Germans. Runs until 8th January and the exhibition also features two ticketed events. Entry to the exhibition is free. For more, follow this link. Meanwhile, Lee Miller: A Woman’s War opens at the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth today, displaying 150 photographs depicting women’ experiences during World War II. The four part exhibition looks at women before the war, in wartime Britain, in wartime Europe and after the war. Runs until 24th April. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.iwm.org.uk.

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This Week in London – Dunkirk Little Ships at Royal Docks a highlight of ‘Museums at Night’; the Magna Carta in stitches; and Peter Kennard’s works on show…

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Dunkirk-Little-Ships-• More than 20 Dunkirk Little Ships will gather at London’s Royal Docks this weekend ahead of their Return to Dunkirk journey marking the 75th anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuations. The event, which is part of the UK’s annual festival of late openings Museums at Night, will see the ships parade around Royal Victoria Dock on Saturday night with the Silver Queen offering twilight trips and the chance to step on board some of the other ships (the Little Ships will continue with their own festival on Sunday commencing with a church service by the quayside at 11am). Other events being offered in London as part of Museums at Night include ‘Dickens After Dark’ in which the Charles Dickens Museum will open its doors to visitors for night of Victorian entertainment on Friday night and a night of music featuring the Royal College of Music at Fulham Palace (also on Friday night). Among the other London properties taking part are the Handel House Museum, Benjamin Franklin House, the Wellcome Collection, Museum of the Order of St John, and the National Archives in Kew. For a full list of events, check out http://museumsatnight.org.uk

• Meanwhile, Dulwich Picture Gallery in south London is holding its first weekend culture festival, MayFest: Men of Mystery, as part of Museums at Night. On Friday and Saturday nights, there will be tours of the gallery’s new exhibition featuring the work of artist Eric Ravilious followed by outdoor cinema screenings of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and The 39 Steps as well as free swing dance lessons, street foods and a pop-up vintage shop which will help people get the vintage look. Visitors are being encouraged to dress up in styles of the 1930s and 1940s with a prizes awarded to those with the “best vintage style”. The gallery will also be inviting visitors to take part in a mass installation drop-in workshop held in the gallery’s grounds over the weekend and Saturday morning will see special events for children. For more, see www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/whats-on/.

• A major new work by acclaimed artist Cornelia Parker goes on display in the entrance hall of the British Library in King’s Cross tomorrow to mark the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta. The almost 13 metre long Magna Carta (An Embroidery) replicates the entire Wikipedia entry on the Magna Carta as it was on the 799th anniversary of the document and was created by many people ranging from prisoners and lawyers to artists and barons. It accompanies the library’s exhibition Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy. Entry to see the artwork is free. For more, see www.bl.uk/cornelia-parker.

• The works of Peter Kennard, described as “Britain’s most important political artist”, are on display in a new exhibition which opens at the Imperial War Museum in London today. Peter Kennard: Unofficial War Artist is the first major retrospective exhibition of his work and features more than 200 artworks and other items drawn from his 50 year career including an art installation, Boardroom, created especially for the display. Works on show include his iconic transposition of Constable’s painting Haywain which he showed carrying cruise missiles about to be deployed in Greenham Common, the Decoration paintings created in 2004 in response to the Iraq War of 2003, his seminal STOP paintings which reference events of the late 1960s such as the ‘Prague Spring’ and anti-Vietnam war protests and his 1997 installation Reading Room. The free exhibition runs at the Lambeth institution until 30th May next year. For more, see www.iwm.org.uk/london.

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This Week in London – Greek sculpture at the British Museum; Hew Locke at HMS Belfast; an interactive high seas adventure at the National Maritime Museum; and, coral reefs at the Natural History Museum…

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Discobolus• The ancient Greek “preoccupation with the human form” is the subject of a new exhibition which opens at the British Museum in Bloomsbury today. Defining beauty: The body in ancient Greek art features about 150 objects dating from the prehistoric to the age of Alexander the Great. Highlights include a newly discovered bronze sculpture of a new athlete scraping his body with a metal tool after exercise before bathing, six Parthenon sculptures from the museum’s collection including a sculpture by Phidias of the river god Ilissos, and  copies of Greek originals including the Towny Discobolus (discus-thrower – pictured) – a Roman copy of Myron’s lost original – and Georg Romér’s reconstruction of Polykleitos’ Doryphoros (spear-bearer) . Runs until 5th July. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.britishmuseum.org/definingbeauty. PICTURE: © The Trustees of the British Museum.

 

• London-based contemporary artist Hew Locke has transformed an entire deck of the HMS Belfast in a major new work, ironically titled work, The Tourists. The installation – which is on show until 7th September – depicts imaginative events in which the crew of the ship are preparing to arrive at Trinidad in time for Carnival in 1962 (the ship’s last international journey – to Trinidad – actually arrived three months after the celebration). Free with general admission charge. For more see www.iwm.org.uk/visits/hms-belfast. Meanwhile, the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth is hosting a free exhibition of Locke’s work in which he explores the idea of naval power through a series of ship sculptures. This free exhibition can be seen until 4th May. For more, see www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-london.

• Families are invited to take part in a new interactive experience on the “high seas of maritime history” which launches at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich on Saturday. The museum has joined with Punchdrunk Enrichment to take six to 12 year-olds and their families on an adventure, Against Captain’s Orders: A Journey into the Uncharted. Visitors don life jackets as they become part of the crew of the HMS Adventure and take on various seafaring roles as they navigate their way through the exhibition. Admission charge applies. Runs until 31st August. For more, see www.rmg.co.uk/againstcaptainsorders.

• See a real coral reef and take a virtual dive in new exhibition at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. Coral Reefs: Secret Cities of the Sea – which opens tomorrow on World Oceans Day – also features more than 200 specimens including coral, fish and fossils. These include examples collected by Charles Darwin on the voyage of the HMS Beagle in the 1830s, giant Turbinate coral and creatures ranging from the venomous blue-ringed octopus to tiny sponge crabs. For more see www.nhm.ac.uk.

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